I survived the sharks . . . the Avs didn't

Lots of sharks in my life lately . . . First, on Friday, October 24th, Bug had her birthday party at the Downtown Denver Aquarium. A sleepover ( a misnomer because not much sleep involved) . . . but she and 4 of her friends had a great time. We started with dinner at Steuben's on 17th Avenue in Denver. The girls all ordered "The Bug Special", which is what Bug orders every single time we eat at Steubens . . . chicken strips, steamed green beans, and the best french fries outside of McDonald's.

They sat us at the back of the restaurant . . . imagine that . . . .just because I had 5 squealing, excited pre-teen girls . . . we were put in the back of the restaurant.

Here are Cat, Court, Izzy, Bug, & Ana . . .




Here is Bug with her cake . . . an extremely low fat cake composed of chocolate with chocolate chips in the batter cake (3 layers), with cookies and cream filling, topped by buttercream frosting. And the restaurant brought them all ice cream to accompany the cake . . . so thoughtful (heavy sarcasm here).



After what felt like a very long car ride with 5 squealing, excited pre-teen girls hyped up on LOTS of sugar, all while listening to the soundtrack of "Camp Rock", we made it to the aquarium where the girls changed into t-shirts and went on a tour.


After the tour of the aquarium and some games with the aquarium educators who, unfortunately, felt the need to bring a hideous, evil snake into the room, take it out of its cage and parade it through our group, we started making preparations to . . . sleep with the sharks.

As we lay in our sleeping bags (on the concrete floor!!), this was the view above us. And when all the lights went out, the sharks really started circling. As well as other extremely large fish and turtles. Once when I awoke, there were 3 sharks circling right over my head. Talk about a wake-up call. Barracudas, sharks, sting rays . . . all night long . . . in the dark . . .while sleeping on a concrete floor. But . . . the girls LOVED it . . . thought it was the greatest party.

The next morning, the Aquarium treated us to bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, bisquits, and juice for breakfast, then the girls were able to give the pirahnas their breakfast of shrimp, watch the tiger in the rainforest search for his whipped cream breakfast treat, and meet a macaw named Ricky.

It was a very fun birthday party . . . although my back took a few days to recover from the experience. LOL

And then last night, Robert and I went to the hockey game where the Colorado Avalanche played the San Jose Sharks . . . and the Avs got bit . . . I mean "beat" . . . 5-3. But it was still great fun for me . . . my very first professional hockey game. It was at the Pepsi Center, which is such a nice facility. And my guy was at my side, so it was a great night. Robert caught a t-shirt at one of the period breaks for Bug, so she was very happy when we got home. And I bought an Avs jersey to wear at the next game Robert and I go to as it will be against the Vancouver Canucks, his favorite team. Since he will be wearing his Canucks jersey, I thought I should have an Avs jersey on so we don't get pummeled by Avs fans. I'll make sure to get a picture of us so you can see. The game is in December.

This coming weekend, we're all 3 headed to Chicago for Bug's birthday trip. Dinner at American Girl Place on her actual birthday, then the next day we're going to shop, see Wicked, and have dinner with our friends that moved to Chicago in July. We're looking very forward to some Garrett's popcorn!